Dodgy Websites

Thank goodness for the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority). If we didn’t have them then the country would be full of misleading claims about products and services. However, there is an issue, adverts and websites can only be adjudicated once the ASA have received a complaint. This means that the misleading claims (lies) have to be made public before there is any action. Therefore most of the population aren’t aware of the fact that an advert might have been withdrawn. The damage will have been done. Perhaps adjuducations should be carried in a short segment at the end of the main TV news shows on ITV, BBC and Sky. This would cut some of the issues of publish and then retract, maybe making advertising even better than it is now.

If you are unsure of what sort of adverts have had adjudications then click here. This should take you to a page with the most recent rulings. Look carefully as this is a list of adverts and claims that have been ruled upon and not just those that are lies. Check the complaint to see what the issue was with the original advert.

The ASA also has a page of non-compliant online advertisers. The list is here. It will probably come as no surprise that a lot of these websites are for products or services that must be considered “woo“. If you can’t substantiate your claims then the chances are you are peddling bogus products or SCAMs.

I am proud to let you know that a complaint I sent to the ASA was acted on for print versions but the website of this company still (as of 7 Nov 2012) promotes amber necklaces for toddlers as a way of soothing teething pains. There is no good evidence that this works. The ASA page on this non-compliance is here. Avoid their products!

Sandy

My Shatism on Storm Sandy.

Attention To Detail

Just so you people know how good GT5 is here’s a changelog for the latest update:

  • The [Tire/Fuel Consumption] settings under [Event Settings] of the Online Lounge can now be set in four levels; “None”, “Normal”, “Fast”, and “Very Fast”.
  • The view during 3D display has been improved.
  • The speed of tire wear varied too greatly depending on the vehicle in some cases, and this has been balanced.
  • Improved the scoring method in drift trials to prevent cheating
  • The maximum RPM of the Honda Weider HSV-010 (SUPER GT) ’11 has been changed to 10300rpm. The engine sound has also been improved.
  • Fixed an issue where enemy cars were hitting the pit entrance wall when pitting in at the Twin Ring Motegi Road Course East.
  • Fixed an issue where fuel was not being consumed when entering an endurance race with a Prius, or when setting tires and fuel to be consumed in the online lounge. Affected cars: Toyota Prius G ’02, Toyota Prius G ’09, Toyota Prius G Touring Selection ’03, Toyota Prius Touring Car.
  • Fixed an issue where the online control characteristics differed from the offline characteristics.
  • That’s why I think GT is one of the best game series ever and why I love it. Just a shame I haven’t played for about 3 weeks! Too busy. Need to be a student again!

    Temporary Temporal Location

    The Theory Of Relativity and the space-time continuum must be having a joke. It is Guy Fawkes night here in the UK and it is traditionally the time of year when people spend their hard earned cash and buy fireworks to explode in celebration of the destruction of a Catholic plot to take over the country. Every year we ritually burn a Catholic effigy on a fire, just to make a point.

    Fireworks are not just limited to the 5th of November as they can be let off anytime from about a week before to a week after the actual date, or so seems the tradition in areas I have lived.

    This sudden need for fireworks to burn has a strange effect on the existence of shops that sell fireworks. All of a sudden, shops exist where none have existed before. It is almost as if the universe knows that we need fireworks and obliges by creating these quantum spaces where money can be exchanged for coloured explosives. For the rest of the year these shops do not exist. I have no idea where you can buy fireworks at any other time of the year.

    It seems strange that the will of the people is satisfied by the universe in allowing  these shops exist. Yet, prayers for health and wealth go un-listened!

    I imagine that fireworks shops are floating around in hyperspace just waiting for a critical mass of “need”. This “need” gives the shops the energy binding to fix their position for a short while so they can serve their reason for existence. As soon as that “need” passes the shop can no longer maintain its bind to reality and it is forced back into hyperspace. Perhaps they follow the need of Earth’s population around the globe and end up following the seasons! Early November in the UK, Diwali in India and New Year everywhere. The number of fireworks stores for the Olympics must have been immense!

    Just imagine, a world where the needs of the people are served by a wonder of shops and services just floating outside existence until the “need” reaches critical mass. That’s my sort of universe!

    Bad App

    Shocked

    It’s not a strong enough word to describe my reaction the the ABC Animals app from the Apple App Store.
    I looked for an alphabet app for #1 to play with as he is starting to learn to read. ABC Animals looked good and I was quite impressed with it.
    You go through the alphabet and touch the screen and get a picture of an animal, that animal’s sound and the animal is aurally named.
    There’s a crocodile for C:

    20121104-191414.jpg

    An elephant for E:

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    A tiger for T:

    20121104-191508.jpg

    But hold on just a MF minute. WTF is this?.
    There’s a UNICORN for the letter U:

    20121104-191628.jpg

    This is just utter ARSE. I am ashamed I ever even downloaded this app. It’s not like there’s a shortage of animals beginning with U.

  • Uakari
  • Umbrella bird
  • Urchin
  • Urutu
  • The app managed just fine to find the X-Ray Fish for the letter X so why are they messing around with a mythical animal for U?
    The app has been deleted.

    Phantoms

    Is this a reflection of Star Wars fans since the Disney buy out? Personally I don’t care. Star Wars has been bad since Episode 1.

    Read into this whatever you want. But then, that’s the point isn’t it?

    Summary

    I’m not sure how the Met Office app gets its summaries for each day but the following doesn’t seem to make sense to me unless it just “averages” the day’s weather.

    Today’s summary:

    20121104-113017.jpg

    Today’s actual forecast. See the difference?

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    Alien

    Here’s #2 son with a bike helmet on. Most amusing I think you’ll agree!

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